Saumon Norbert

Not  many people know of Saumon Norbert. That’s because it is a recipe we developed at Kerrouet House and named it after one of our students (Norman Hatcliff) who was celebrating his 65 birthday with us! It’s a simple and delicious dish and I am sure you will love it! 

Ingredients:

150g/5.5ozs of salmon filet per person 

1 red onion diced

1 red pepper diced

1 green pepper diced 

1 yellow pepper diced 

1 roll of goats cheese sliced

Method

Preheat oven to 240C/460F

Make an insertion in the middle of each salmon filet and insert the slice of goats cheese. Sprinkle the mix of vegetables on top. Place the salmon filets on greased baking paper and season with salt and pepper. Bake the salmon for 10 minutes. Serve with salad and a dash of basil oil. 

Welcome to Brittany

The magazine Côtes d'Armor is distributed to every home in northern Brittany. Therefore it is very nice that we get a mention on page 26!! Here is a link : http://cotesdarmor.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/magazines/2017/Mag160.pdf

A visit to Ballymaloe Cooking School Ireland

We had the honour of being invited for lunch at one of the world's most prestigious cooking schools last week. Ballymaloe is not just a cooking school. It is also a one hundred acre organic farm and a Relais @ Chateau Hotel. The cooking school is under the direction of Darina Allen and has a staff of sixty persons. As soon as you enter the school you see that it is being run under very professional hands. On the day of our visit, the school was offering cooking classes to thirty five local school children under a enlightened educational initiative between Darina herself and the Educational Authority. 

All six kitchens were in use and all tutors keeping a close eye on their charges. To the great credit of Darina and her professional team, the lunch was served in a well rehearsed manner and we were impressed with the local in house supply of salads and foods served to us. The farm is one of the most sustainable businesses of its kind certainly within the British/Irish isles if not the world. Ballymaloe is way ahead of the game spearheading the war against global food giants who are damaging the quality and diversity of our food supply. On the day of our visit, there ŵas a seminar and debate focusing on the danger of mass kelp processing initiatives which were likely to cause serious damage to the local kelp farming industry and to the sea bed around Ireland and beyond. Ballymaloe is a beacon for sustainability and it is Darina Allen and her enlightened team who are fighting this war on all fronts.

When you walk around the school or the beautiful gardens or indeed the enormous plantations under glass, you get a glimpse of the vast enterprise that Ballymaloe is and the extraordinary work being carried out to train the chefs and culinary experts of tomorrow. The hotel itself is the perfect location to enjoy great food and wine in beautiful surroundings and welcoming staff. It was a great honour to meet Darina and her team who made us so very very welcome on what was for them a busy normal day!

The School

The Chateau 

Darina and staff serving lunch

Lecture Theatre

One of thr kitchens

The French Show London 2012

Well we survived the French Show and London too. It was a hectic few days but very rewarding on so many different levels. We met hundreds of lovely people all doing just what we are doing - following their dreams and making their business in France work. There were numerous estate agents selling French property and these were surprisingly very busy (what recession?) with lots of interest from well heeled visitors. The English still love France according to Owen Coke (A Place in Brittany) who was exhibiting at the show. This was reiterated by Frederick Bonneau (Manoir de la Vigniere) who was kept very busy dealing with a constant queue of enthusiastic visitors. It was also nice to see three other cooking schools (including Isabelle Mellinger - Spoontrip) exhibit their programmes. We were impressed by the number of people who expressed interest in our courses. Things are definitely busier than ever this year and we are already taking bookings for summer 2013! We had the pleasure of meeting the acclaimed musician, Frederick La Verde, who enthralled everyone with his performances playing his extraordinary mobile piano! We were also delighted to meet Rudolf Junginger of Art de Brique who has some wonderful architectural designs for your new home in France!

We were also introduced to French Radio London. This is London’s first terrestrial French language radio station, broadcasting 24/7 on DAB, on the Internet and on their iPhone App. Created to serve London’s 400,000 French residents, they not only air internationally renowned French titles, but believe that their mission is to discover new talent in French music and bring new French sounds to the UK.VIVE LA FRANCE!

French Dining School (London)


We also checked out our winter cooking school, French Dining School (London) located right in the heart of central London. Just a few minutes walk from Berkeley Square in Mayfair, this school will soon provide additional courses in French cuisine for all our cooking students from December to March each year.

Another enjoyable aspect of London life is car spotting and we simply could not resist falling in love with this little beauty!

Welsh Television comes to Kerrouet

Creso and welcome to Channel 4 Wales who came to our cooking school for the past few days and enjoyed some great food and some fun as we undertook the filming of the cooking process. Poul, our chef, and Edith our neighbour, were responsible for training two Welsh speaking presenters who were endeavouring to master some of the unique skills in preparing some classic Briton dishes. On Thursday our menus started with artichoke in a citrus sauce, followed by turbot and seabass with langoustine and mussels. This was followed by a delicious home made cinnamon ice cream with crab apple gratin. On Friday we concentrated on the world famous Briton recipe "Far Briton" which is translated as a custard plum pudding as well as home made galettes which Edith demonstrated is a far more intricate process than simply making pancakes!

Kerrouet Royal - a new cocktail from Kerrouet House

Well it's not every day that a new cocktail hits the headlines but when that cocktail is developed and named by yours truely, one is justifiably proud! Kerrouet Royale has now been approved and registered by the UK's premier cocktail website (www.cocktail.uk.com) and a link to the site for comments on the new fusion of armagnac, cointreau and champagne is given below. We hope you get to try it soon and please don't hesitate to pop along to Kerrouet House to sample a few glasses while stocks last!!

http://www.cocktail.uk.com/db/view.asp?ID=11873